Online Survey to Investigate Asthma Medication Prescription and Adherence from the Perspective of Patients and Healthcare Practitioners in England.

Background: High short-acting β Methods: Data were collected using online surveys from HCPs and people with asthma (≥18 years old with a confirmed asthma diagnosis of any severity) who had consented to research participation through the Clinical Practice Research Datalink. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics. Results: In total, 76 HCPs and 63 patients were invited to take part. Of 48 valid HCP responders, 54.2% (n=26) reported scheduling an annual asthma treatment review with their patients and 83.3% of general practitioners (n=40) had prescribed repeated inhalers at the patient's request. Of 47 valid patient responders, 57.4% (n=27) reported using their reliever (SABA) inhaler daily and 55.3% of patients (n=26) reported being prescribed a preventer inhaler. Of the total patient responders, 31.9% (n=15) reported that they never used their preventer inhaler. Consistent annual adherence with preventer inhalers was reported by 44.7% of all valid responders (n=21), while other patients admitted to using preventers intermittently. Conclusion: SABA and ICS prescription patterns are driven by a combination of HCP and patient factors. Opportunities exist to improve asthma control and behaviours around inhaler use.